Burn Burn the Fire
by S J Smith-Evil Little Dog
Summary: Something happened to Pepper. No one wants to tell Tony what.


**Title:** Burn Burn the Fire

**Author: **Evil_Little_Dog

**Rating:** Teen

**Disclaimer:** This is a derivative work, and, as such, I make absolutely no money writing this. Darn the luck.

**Summary: **Something happened with Pepper. No one wants to tell Tony what.

**Notes: **Written for the LJ Community, Comment_Fic.

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><p>Tony wakes in the hospital this time. It's a novel experience, as he's pretty sure he'd been in some massive fight with...with...well, all right, so his mind is blank, but he remembers a fight, and lots of laser-y type things and the Hulk, and someone shouting his name as he was falling and...<p>

And nothing. A big, fat goose egg. And as he blinks and looked around (carefully, because his skull feels like that big, fat goose egg, with the gosling trying to peck and kick it's way out), he's surprised to see no one here in the room. Well, no one he recognizes, as there's someone who looks an awful lot like 'protection' by the sheer amount of muscle fighting the confines of what looks like a very expensive suit, probably tailored to hide at least one gun. Tony decides Nastasha would probably approve before he tries to clear his throat (realizing that's a terrible idea when his throat protests enough to nearly send him back unconscious from the sheer pain).

"Sir," the man says, in a voice that reminds Tony of gravel in a cement mixer, "you're awake."

"Mm." A hum is a lot easier than words, but Tony's got a lot of words, and some of them have to escape. "Where am I? No, hospital. Ow. Where's...scratch that. No, wait. Where's Pepper?"

Because, Pepper. She'd been there, Tony remembers. She'd been there, and fighting because of the Extremis, and...and...

"Sir, let me get a doctor."

"Get Pepper," Tony orders and manages to contain his wince until after the man vanishes through the door.

The doctor is young, younger than Tony expects, and tiny compared to the guard. "Mr. Stark, so glad you're awake!" he chirps, and checks the chart. "That's very good."

Tony blinks, a little surprised. "Was there a chance I wouldn't wake up?"

The doctor stops and looks at him, his expression confused for a second, then it smooths out. "No, of course not!" His attempt at heartiness fails. "I'm Dr. Jones, I've been keeping an eye on you."

"You, him," Tony indicates his guard, "but I want to know, where is Pepper Potts? About three inches taller than you flat-footed, with strawberry blond hair, and likely to be sarcastic rather than worried unless she's really upset?"

Dr. Jones shifts from one foot to the other. "I'm afraid I can't - "

"Then find someone who can," Tony says. "Because I need to know she's all right."

Jones hesitates a second more, and Tony barks out, "Now!" That sends him scuttling out the door. Tony looks at his guard. "And you. Who sent you? Wait, I don't even have to guess, Rhodey, right?"

The guard is far more circumspect than the doctor, folding his hands behind his back, and staring straight ahead. Tony tries teasing more words out of him, but his throat's really hurting, so he finally lapses back into the bed, wishing he had his own.

After a while, the door bursts open. Tony doesn't hide his disappointment at seeing Rhodey, but at least he sees someone he knows. "Rhodey. Tell me what's going on, bud."

"Just got the word you're awake. You're awake." He grabs Tony's hand and squeezes it, hard enough it could hurt. "God, it's good to see you."

"Nn...yeah, well...what happened?"

"Oh, you and your superpowered friends saved the world, or at least New York. Again."

"And Pepper?"

Rhodey's smile dims a bit. "She, uh."

"Uh? I don't like the sound of that, Rhodes."

"She's...okay. Recovering."

"You're making that face. I don't like it when you make that face." Tony narrows his eyes. "I want to know about Pepper. I'll raise hell - you know I will - until I can talk to her."

Rhodey licks his lips, his eyes darting from side to side, like a rat in a trap. Tony starts to try to sit up, to hell with the pain, but Rhodey sighs. "She's recovering. Unconscious...she really...went nuts when you went down."

Every muscle - even the painful ones - goes tense. "Unconscious? She's...Is she all right?"

"That Extremis thing." And Rhodey really didn't need to say anything else.

Tony fists his free hand, banging it against the bed rail. "Damn. iDamn./i" He takes a deep breath. "I still need to see her, Rhodey."

"You were in a coma yourself, Tony." Rhodey gives him a glare.

Like it has any affect. "Need to see her. Not seeing her is not an option."

Rhodey sighs again. "I'll see what I can do, Tony."

"Do it. Do it harder." He smiles. Kind of. "For me. For her."

"Right."

A day passes, all too slowly. Tony endures all the stupid, annoying tests, the bland food, the doctors and nurses and his guard changing shifts. Finally, he's allowed into a wheel chair and very carefully pushed down the hall to another wing of the hospital.

Natasha is there, sitting in a chair outside a room. She rises, fluid as ever, but Tony spots a telltale hesitation in her right knee. A memory surfaces fleetingly, of Natasha falling – jumping – off a building, and landing hard. Still, he's more interested in who's behind door number one. "She's alive, and conscious now," Natasha says without preamble, "and no longer dangerous."

Tony realizes the room has warning signs and appears to have been made fireproof. Or something similar, at least. "Thanks, Tasha."

"You can go in," she says, giving Rhodey a look that says he's not allowed.

He raises his hands. "You're the boss."

Tony takes a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. So I've got this, and I'll go in, and you'd sure as hell better not record any of this with your StarkPhone, either of you, or I'll destroy your most favorite toys." Natasha smirks and Rhodey rolls his eyes, and Tony thinks he has to work on his threats. Rhodey at least opens the door, and Tony manages to roll himself through it, and over to the bed.

Pepper's eyes are closed, and she's not bruised, but tubes run from IV bottles to her arms and the tang of urine bleeds over the typical sterile hospital smells. At the creak of his chair, Pepper's eyes open, and she turns her head, so very slowly, to look at him.

"You're alive," she says, almost at the same time he does.

Tony takes her hand in his and her fingers are cold. He kisses them, breathing warm air over them. "God, I wasn't sure."

"I wasn't either," Pepper says, and there's a catch in her voice that makes him look up and meet her eyes.

"Can you tell me what happened?" He smooths his thumb over her knuckles before pulling her hand to his mouth again, holding it to his lips.

"I thought they'd killed you," Pepper says. "I lost my temper. There was a lot of fire. I burned things."

"Honey, you're a redhead. Of course you're going to lose your temper over me."

That coaxes the tiniest smile from her. "You always make me lose my temper."

"Uh huh." Tony sighs, pressing his lips against her knuckles. "As long as we're around to help each other afterward."

"Deal," Pepper says.

"Deal," Tony agrees.

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><p><em>~ end ~<em>


End file.
